To start off the poster design process I first did some quick sketches on my sketchbook to get an idea of how I wanted each thing to be on the page. From all the research, I wanted to heavily focus on the imagery, for it to be the main focus on the page and when someone looks at it it would immediately catch their eye.
I wanted the posters to be clean and structure which represents the corporate style. I don’t want to have too much information on the posters as when the people come into the exhibition they can see it and understand the message. The main elements I will be having on the posters are the name/slogan, date, location address and imagery. I believe these are enough for a poster and should communicate the context of the exhibition. The next step is to create these designs digitally.
To create the gradient effect as that is the concept of the exhibition I wanted to research on posters, branding materials for inspiration to how to show the gradient. The posters above are other ones that caught my eye and I wanted to use as inspiration. Especially the orange and blue poster on the top right is beautiful and smooth. The poster doesn’t have much information on the page but it can be adapted to my exhibition. However, the aesthetic of these posters are very subtle, clean and soft in language. As my exhibition is aimed to be more provocative, making people question about the reactions in society I will be using more harsh colours bold type faces and large texts to create more dynamic designs.
I started to create poster designs and the designs below are one of the very first posters I designed very early on in the project. They do not relate to the final concept I have decided on but I wanted to include them in the development to show my initial ideas. The ideas behind these posters are boxes represents the tick box next to the terms and conditions sections. The parts missing show of the details we never get told or miss out on as no one ever reads terms and conditions. We all agree on something we don’t know about. The posters rely heavily on the imagery of grids in the centre but they randomly lose bits and lose shape. The large slogan of ‘are you in control?’ is provocative and would make people question. The colour palette is blue, black and white. The links with the facebook colour but I didn’t want to make it exactly to same colour I wanted a colour that is brighter and vibrant so that it would stand out more. However, the viewer will still quickly make the link between the exhibition and the colours to Facebook so it is explicit and not a hidden symbol. The date is 20.09.2020 which is not a set date I am yet to research on date and location during the process. I really like the ‘I agree’ slogan which is part of the tick box. On the far tight poster I was influenced by the posters from the mood board and I wanted to use a photograph and manipulate it to show the brain washing effect or losing our identity. I believe these visual languages are very strong and reflect the purpose of the exhibition. I carried on experimenting more with the gradient concept next.
These are the imagery I created using the black and blue colour from the colour scheme. They are very simple images but clearly show off the concept. The first 2 design I used solid block shapes which relates to the redacted symbol on the logo design. I think with the logo on the poster it would work really for consistency. The other 2 designs are more subtle and smooth compared to the other solid block design. IÂ think the two have different languages the firs two are more explicit and harsh with the style and the smooth gradient is subtle and calmer in the tone. Using all these designs I moved on to creating poster designs.
These are the first poster designs using the imagery. I used different layout systems in all of the designs. The first poster I wanted to divide the page into two, first section focuses on the imagery which is the main focus and then the name and details about the exhibition at the bottom. I used thin lines at the bottom for the details to create more structure and also so that it fits in with the imagery. I like this system and I think I want to more designs similar to it . The second poster I used a similar system but this time I used slogans in bold type face and large text for the date so it stands out. As in the other designs the date and other information didn’t stand out which is also a key element of the poster. I used ‘breach of trust’ as a slogan as in one of the articles Mark Zuckerberg says that they ‘breach of trust’ which I found that it would be a really good slogan for the poster for a provocative message. The last design on the left is the one imagery taking up all space in the centre, the name of the exhibition is placed on the top and the date and location in between the lines. This is also a nice effect that merges the text and imagery together.
I carried on experimenting with posters. The poster on the left is focused on redacted text which is inspired from the logo. The feel you get from the poster is very provocative, the block of black shapes covers the texts making it hard to read but you can manage to make it out what it says. The first ‘scandal’ is more visible and so is Facebook users’ so that the reader can quickly make the link and bring together all the words. I placed the date and other information at the bottom. The second poster is one of my favourites that focus on the imagery again, you can also see the columns I used to show the system. The information is placed on the top right and the vague ‘are you in control?’ slogan is on the left side. The last poster is very similar to the posters earlier on but I made few changes to such as I used a short slogan of ‘are you really in control?’ and used the redacted symbol again to cover the ‘really’ to short out the sentence. I think it all works together.
As I said I really liked the layout system on the second black poster above so I used the same system below again but this time it’s lot more cleaner in the style and structured. I again used the same slogan on the bottom left and horizontally placed the date in Eurostile black which is a thick font that stands out on posters. The date is still not a set date and I just used it for an example. The second poster also works really well with horizontally placed name which is also redacted that acts as a logo. I placed a small text at the bottom and redacted some words and the paragraph reads ‘Exhibition not for instagram’. By this I mean, many people visit exhibitions and galleries to take photos and upload them on instagram which opposite the purpose of the exhibition. So by this, the reader may be intrigued and understand the context way more.
These posters are one of the last ones I designed. As at the start I said, I liked the system of imagery on the first part of the page and the second half focused on text and information. I used the subtle black and white gradient which stands out really well with the black background. The name is placed underneath the imagery and I used a small slogan or text which says ‘UK, USA AND CHINA’ to give more context to the poster and viewers will know what the exhibition is a bout and it would make them more interested knowing its about powerful countries. I used a think stroke detail so it doesn’t stand out more. I used the logo on the bottom left so it works with the imagery and the date is also main hierarchy on the poster. The eyes should follow in the order of imagery, name, the date and location. The second poster is basically the same but I just played around with the placing of the name and slogans. I like the first version way more.
I had so options to chose from as the main poster designs and I decided to go with the 2 above. The first one focuses on the black background and blue gradient which it makes it stand out much more. The dates are double horizontally placed on the right and the location is also at the bottom in a thick bold type face. I used a slogan of ‘You are now a commodity’ which is referenced form the The Great Hack film I watched earlier in the project. I think this poster is very clean in the structure but it would make people question what is the gradient about, the provocative slogan of ‘you are now a commodity’ has a strong language. I am happy with the outcomes and also the second poster I used the system from other layouts. I chose this one because it is again structured but this one gives more information about the exhibition which still isn’t a lot but it tells what is the exhibition about. The next step is to start designing the booklet.
Busra Yildiz 